The pretty boys of alternative rock, Placebo, have just released their fifth record, Meds, one of the finest offerings of the year. Placebo is the most distinct and fashionable rock band to emerge in the wake of the grunge revolution, they’re the certainly the most talented – and also perhaps the most overlooked. Meds, already acclaimed as the best album of 2006 yet, with its tightly controlled rock sensibility, masterful production and sharp focus may just rectify that problem.

Placebo, the band, came together when school friends Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal met accidentally at a train station in UK and talked musical ambitions. They put together a fledgling band with Brian on vocals on guitar, Stefan on guitars, juggled drummers, secured themselves a record deal and, in 1996, they released their self-titled debut album.

The first single, the funky Nancy Boy charted in the top ten in the UK charts. This was to be one of the band’s finest moments. The album was a critical and commercial success, a fine start to a rock career. In 1998, Q Magazine readers tagged Placebo, the record, the 87th greatest album of all time.

The band followed up in 1998 with Without You I’m Nothing charting at #7 in UK and France and #14 in Australia. Their second record contained two of the most widely played songs in the Placebo catalogue: the brief, tongue-in-cheek Pure Morning, featuring lyrics “A friend in needs a friend indeed/ A friend with weed is better/ A friend with breasts and all the rest/ A friend who’s dressed in leather” highlighted the band’s irreverent lyrical flair and was recorded into a video which had Brian Molko interacting with the police who’re trying to talk him out of a suicide attempt, jumping off a building.

The band’s shining moment, however, was the fast-paced, sarcasm-laced Every You Every Me, their trademark song which was featured on the soundtrack of hit film, ‘Cruel Intentions’, cementing their reputation in stone. It also showcased the essential Placebo sound, a straightforward, highly produced, very finely crafted, glam-oriented rock which picks up from where David Bowie, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode left off. Brian Molko with his high-pitched, boyish voice has perhaps the most distinct vocal styling since Dire Straits frontman, Mark Knofler, he is capable of great intensity and nuance, he is “interesting” to listen to. The band has a flair for irreverent and intelligent songwriting, they are uninhibited in making the subject their own excessive rock ‘n roll lifestyles and deviant sexuality – which has earned them a “dirty” tag – and they have a particular talent for witty one-liners as evidenced on Pure Morning and again on Without You I’m Nothing, where Molko sings “I’m unclean/ A libertine/ And everytime you vent your spleen/ I seem to lose my power of speech.” The songwriting and the vocals set Placebo sharply apart from the mainstream rock masses and give them an edge over perhaps any other rock band out there today.

Molko himself comments on their rabid fanbase: “It’s probably because as bands we explore the darker side of human emotions. It’s honest and it touches a great deal of people. The three of us growing up always felt like outsiders, and to a certain degree, Placebo’s music is “by outsiders, for outsiders.” When you come to a Placebo gig it can seem to be a convention of outcasts. “

We’ve explored the themes of voyeurism [“Peeping Tom”], some political themes [“Spite & Malice” and “Hemoglobin”]. I think that as well as making people feel, we can make people think, and we can also make people dance. “

Placebo’s shining star was to wane though. The music press occasionally ridiculed Brian Molko’s meandering androgynous sexuality and arty rock pretensions. Serious critics started to question the actual worth of the band’s music and question if there was anything more to it than just “glam and sham.” The band went on to release two more albums: Black Market Music had a more stripped down sound harking back to seventies rock and debuted in the top ten in UK, France, Germany and Australia. The record featured the hits, Taste in Men, Spite and Malice, and Slave to the Wage. Critics, however, were savage, ripping at the lyrics which were overwhelmingly pretentious and clumsy and catered to cheap thrills. In just a short time, the band had come full circle; they had turned on themselves, a common syndrome of success and the high life.

The next record, ‘Sleeping with Ghosts’, was a bit more down-to-earth, certainly more experimental and diverse. The Bitter End was the first single off this album, and is Placebo’s finest rocker to date, a searing, addicting joyride. One reason this album fared better critically than its predecessor was that it had an intentional focus on “exorcising past ghosts” for the band, setting the seal on certain relationships, compromises, religion etc. and moving on. The songs reflect this sharp break with the past; there is a genuine honesty to them.

The latest record, Meds, is quite a marvel. There is less of the pandering, and a more mainstream sound. There is a coming-to-age of sorts, the songs are more insightful, time seems to have brought in a bit more restraint, a touch more reflection. The title track, Meds, is a dreamy rocker about medication and relationships. Infra Red is another clean airtight radio-friendly single. Pierrot the Clown is another gem, a soft sentimental ballad about a relationship breaking off. As expected, sales have been very good, tours have sold out in Australia and Europe. This is a wonderful album for someone who wants to see what Placebo is all about.

There is a very real problem though: the first thing a new listener notices about Placebo is that this band has far more talent up its sleeve than contemporaries Coldplay, Green Day, etc. Yet; they’re not on the list of “biggest bands on the planet.” Why not? This question can be answered if one immerses himself in the band’s catalogue.

Whereas bands such as Pink Floyd, U2 and REM ponder Life, God, Love, what it means to be human, the immortal themes of poets and philosophers, Placebo chronicle drugs, excess and failed sexual relationships – and pretty much nothing else. The band’s greatest strength – portraying the dark side – is their musical nemesis, their absolute limitation. That is the essential difference, the critics are quite correct: Placebo’s music is dark, depressing and cynical – the mood may be upbeat, but the songs are really just dead-end alleys. One fan comments that if he were stranded on a desert island and had one album to take along with him, he’d pick Without You I’m Nothing – mentioning as an afterthought “Although I’d probably commit suicide after about a year.” Critics note that Brian Molko prefers to “wallow in the sound of words, not their content” and that could account for the non-existent evolution in the band’s musical depth. Five albums later, it is still “teenage angst,” albeit a little more mature, a little more weary. A critic puts it best when describing their music: “its dead, but its pretty…but dead.”